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Monday, April 12, 2010

28. One called Napoleon a tyrant and imperial cut-throat; but I saw God armed striding through Europe.

[Thoughts and Aphorisms : Sri Aurobindo]

Some people have spoken of the Antichrist.Especially, Michel de Nostradamus has spoken of three Antichrists: Napoleon, Hitler and one yet to be known as such. According to those who speak of the Antichrist, the term refers to one who is a very strong force, opposing and antagonistic to God — representing the anti-divine Force.

We find Sri Aurobindo's interpretation of the term as follows:Antichrist in the Bible, the great antagonist of Christ, is expected to spread universal evil before the end of the world but finally to be conquered at Christ's second coming. [Glossary And Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo's Works]

Some have said that Napoleon was 'a tyrant' and imperial cut-throat' — what Sri Aurobindo has mentioned here. To some, he was only a war-monger. And war is a big social calamity, resulting in gross bloodshed and death and massacre. It seemed to some that he was a force that was destructive and evil for the mankind.

In Their several statements, however, The Mother and Sri Aurobindo have referred to Hitler as an anti-divine force.But about Napoleon, Sri Aurobindo has stated differently: I saw God armed striding through Europe.

And The Mother has said that wars were inevitable among the humans at a particular stage of their development and Evolution. War has been the history of mankind. From the very beginning of the human civilization, groups, bigger or smaller, have been warring against each other. Clans have been fighting battles. Nations have been fighting wars. And the Mankind have seen two World Wars. And there is the fear and the talk of the Third World War at any time. The World is ready for the next World War, sitting on the nuclear bombs!

The wars have been the expression of the lower vital nature and egoism, so very powerful in the mankind that we have been drawn towards the warring confrontations without any self-control, individually and as nations or groups. Wars were the result of confrontation of groups, of nations against each other.

Very often, what was destroyed by the wars was the past that supported the Tamasic way of life, the way of inertia, the way that stopped progress and supported the accumulations of the past that needed to be surpassed and destroyed. As The Mother puts it, wars "may serve to destroy a past that refuses to disappear though its time is over and they make room for new things."

Wars were also necessary for the protection of the righteous people, like the Pandavas, mentioned in the Mahabharata, who fought the war at Kurukshetra. AT Kurukshetra, the Pandavas were led by Sri Krishna against the Kauravas. The Mother has said: "Wars can, like Kurukshetra, be a way to rid the earth of a domineering or destructiverace so that justice and right can reign."

The humanity has to evolve towards the growing Manifestation of the Supramental Consciousness on earth, towards the advent of the Supramental Race, the New Race, and in its evolutionary progress, it has to surpass all that becomes unnecessary, creating hurdles on the Way. There have come persons preaching peace and non-violence, but so long as Man continues to be ruled by the lower nature, war will be there: at least, mentally and materially, nations will be for war. Man has to grow and rise in Consciousness, and there should be one humanity, above barriers and boundaries.

As and when mankind will grow and rise towards and in and with the Supramental Consciousness, wars will no longer be necessary and there will be the possibility of and Hope for Peace.

Barindranath Chaki

Interested mainly in the Adventure of Consciousness, I believe in human progress and evolution and in the inner capacity of Man to outgrow and master all his imperfections and darkness, to grow into a creative and constructive divine being, along with the society, conquering all inner and outer darkness, crossing all barriers and divisions.
I am a retired Officer of the Orissa Administrative Service from Orissa, India. Since adolescence, I was inspired by Sri Aurobindo and The Mother (Mira Alfassa) and sought to understand and follow Their Teaching, and make others understand and follow Them. In 1956, I read The Life Divine, and gradually, read almost all that is written by Them and about Them. I have visited the Ashram and Auroville some times. I organized some Sri Aurobindo centres in Orissa, and often met Prapatti and Ramkrishna Das. I and my wife and children had a special Darshan of The Mother on my birthday on 3rd March 1972.
Mira Aditi Centre has published my Bengali translations of some books including Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness by Satprem, India's Rebirth and India the Mother, collections from the writings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.